Daughter of the richest man in Africa, Halima Aliko Dangote has been appointed as the new Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations of Dangote Industries Limited, one of Africa’s largest and most diversified business conglomerates.

According to a press statement by the company, Halima is returning to the group after serving on secondment in several capacities across two of its business units over the last five years. She is also a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

Recently, Halima served as executive director of Dangote Flour Mills. Remarkably, she led the turnaround of the business from loss in turnover to a profitable status; a feat derived from consistent high performance over time.

Previously, she served as executive director of NASCON, a manufacturer of salt, seasonings and related consumer products. She continues to serve as a non-executive director of NASCON.

She is the president of the board of The Africa Center in New York, US. She is a board member of Endeavour Nigeria and is also a member of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD).

She has over 12 years of professional experience and has held several executive management roles. In her new role, Halima will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of the Dangote Group’s customer strategy to drive customer growth, improve customer relationship management, enhance customer experience and increase long term customer value, according to the release.

She will also be responsible for the implementation of the group’s shared services strategy with specific oversight for the following functions: commercial, strategic procurement, administration and branding and communications.

Halima, who has a strong passion for women empowerment, holds a bachelors’ degree in marketing from the American Intercontinental University, London, UK and a master’s degree in business administration from Webster Business School, UK.

She has attended a number of high profile leadership development programmes including: the Programme for Leadership Development (PLD) at Harvard Business School; Executive Development Programme at Kellogg School of Management; Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Executives at Columbia Business School.